Ken Blanchard - The Most Loving Place in Town: A Modern Day Parable for the Church

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION

This is a great story. Jesus placed all His bets on the mastering of love by His people. Read itand get to work!

John Ortberg
Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church; and Author,
All the Places to Go

With all the busyness and stress in our world today, this simple yet profoundly powerful story is a beacon of hope not only for church life but also for all of our lives. Its a call to remember that God is love, and were called by Him to model that in every way that we live our lives, especially in His church. With leadership founded on Biblical lovenot judgment, self-interest, or a plethora of programschurches can begin to draw people back into the fold. This heartfelt book is the godly how-to handbook to do just that!

Barbara A. Glanz
Speaker and Author, Priceless Gifts

This is a must-read for everyone who claims to be a Christian. The book furnishes thought-provoking study questions that all church board members should use as a guide to examine themselves and the churches they are leading. Thank you, Ken and Phil, for reminding us of Gods charge for our lives and the power of prayer.

Roger Roberson
Retired Chairman, Roberson Management

Ken and Phil have done it again! They keep hitting the center cut of the target! Youll want to pick up this new book and will not be able to put it down. God has truly blessed them with incredible gifts. Youll be blessed!

Jim Blanchard
Retired Chairman and CEO, Synovus Financial Corp.

[Lead Like Jesus for Churches] touches the very sorest place in the human heart: our deep longing for a community of true kindness and grace. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges have written a moving and biblically sure-footed parable that will guide you and your congregation back to your first love. Read this book, shed tears of repentance and joy, and make yourself available to the work God wants to do to renew love and caring in your local church.

Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert
Best-Selling Authors, The Serving Leader and
Ten Thousand Horses

[Lead Like Jesus for Churches] reminds us that even though the busyness of Christ-centered communities is necessary, it is not primary. The business of those vibrant, living communities is love. We are reminded that choosing any action or activity over a loving relationship is a bad decision. With great insights and anecdotes, the authors remind us of three important truths: The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. And the best time to love is now.

Mick Ukleja, PhD
President, Leadership Traq; and Best-Selling Author,
Who Are You and What Do You Want?

It takes a couple of real servants to write a book about servant leadership and its number one ingredient: love. Ken and Phil do a great job of modeling the leadership style of Jesus. This book is a keeper on how it is done.

C. Kemmons Wilson Jr.
Founding FamilyHoliday Inns

All of us earnestly desire to be in a loving church. However, many churches are not the most loving places in town. In this parable, Ken and Phil have shown us how to start the journey under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to transform our own church into the most loving place in town.

Micky Blackwell
Former President and COO, Lockheed Martin
Aeronautical Systems

This book takes us back to basics: love God, and love one another. The parable brings to life the simple yet profound truths that Jesus taught through His deeds and words. Churches that embrace the message of this book can become the most loving places in town.

Bobby Ukrop
President and CEO, Ukrops Super Markets, Inc.

2016 Lead Like Jesus

Originally published as The Most Loving Place in Town. 2008 BFP, LP, and Phil Hodges.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

This parable is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NKJV are from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted ESV are from the English Standard Version. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

ISBN 978-0-7180-7638-2

ISBN 978-0-7180-8872-9 (e-book)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The previous edition of this book is cataloged as follows:

Blanchard, Kenneth H.

The most loving place in town : a modern-day parable for the church / Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7852-2893-6 (hardcover)

1. Church. I. Hodges, Phil. II. Title.

BV600.3.B53 2008

253dc22

2008024714

16 17 18 19 20 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

By this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.
JOHN 13:35

CONTENTS

Ken and Phil thank their wives, Margie and Jane, for their loving support on the journey to Lead Like Jesus for Churches. They also extend their gratitude to Phyllis Hendry for her loving leadership of the Lead Like Jesus ministries.

Ken has been blessed by fabulous colleagues in The Ken Blanchard Companies. The concepts that they taught him appear throughout this book. He would like to thank Jesse Stoner, his coauthor on Full Steam Ahead!, for her pioneering work in visioning and Pat Zigarmi, coauthor of Leading at a Higher Level, for the research she was involved in around the concerns people have during change.

Phil thanks Karen McGuire and Martha Lawrence for their encouragement, wisdom, editorial support, and love for the book. He also thanks Micky Blackwell for his insight on corporate prayer. For their willingness to provide suggestions and insights on the work, Phil thanks Kathy McKinnie, Owen Phelps, Greg Bunch, Sally and Steve Patay, and Bruce Humphries. Phil also thanks the real Golden OldiesHarley Damon, Vergil Best, and Phil Seitzhis accountability partners for the past fifteen years. For their unconditional love, Phil thanks the Hodges and Pinner families, especially his grandchildren, Julia, John, James, Philip, Sarah, and Samuel. Finally, he sends a special thank-you to his late mother, Elizabeth Hodges, the woman who taught him about unconditional love.

Thank the Lord for term limits, Tim Manning muttered to himself as he looked down at the agenda from last nights meeting of the Beacon Hill Community Church Elder Council. Three months from finishing his third consecutive two-year term as church chairman, Tim was ineligible to serve a fourth term. Although ambivalent about leaving office, he had to admit that it was good that he go. He still cared passionately about the church and was gratified by many things that had happened during his term in office. But he was worn out. After eighty-two council meetings, twenty-three congregational business meetings, and countless daily phone calls, e-mails, and coffee-shop meetings, he was ready to turn over leadership responsibilities to the next suffering servant .